Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Korbac]

I did pick Nat. Merchants. Also, Colony Ship strategy change and further research strategy (probably after Shields 2 and APB 1) will be Solar Panels.

More to come in a bit, after I've had some toast.

[Korbac]

After Selph had left, a few minutes passed with Martin devising the designs of the nation's first colony ship. After all, the Emperor needed to have a hands - on approach to governance, right?

Just as he had finished, Tim Tip, the minister for planets and colonies, arrived. He had an extremely keen look on his face, and could you blame him; he had a job that involved large amounts of thumb - twiddling until there was actually the ability to colonise places.

"Ahh, Tim, it seems your moment has come at last!" Martin spoke maganimously. "Now we know why you're here. We have two colonizable planets in this system. Which would you prefer to have the Terran flag flying on first?"

"My Emperor," Tim spoke with respect but without reverence, "The planet immediate to us - Vroarsca V A - is a tiny planet, with a carbon dioxide atmosphere. It contains large amounts of organics and radioactives."

Martin nodded thoughtfully. "Continue."

"However, due to the size of the planet and the fact that any colony on it must be domed, I estimate we will only be able to get one facility on there."

Martin sighed. "What's the other option?"

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

"Vroarsca I. It has room for twice as many facilities..."

"Two," Martin interjected in a somewhat irritated tone.

"Yes, two, but has measurable mineral wealth, plus the extra space could be used for a research center or something if you fancied."

Martin accepted Tim's proposal to colonise Vroarsca I first. They then had a brief discussion on colonising other systems. "As neccessary," was their agreement.

His other ministers wouldn't be needed for a few months. Martin Tilearth settled down to some less dramatic governing for the time being.

[RAM]

Ewwwww, nasty nasty little planets.

[Korbac]

Star chart year 2000.8.

Despite the lack of any real decisions to make on his behalf, Martin Tilearth had been busy these past few months. Both planets had been colonised - the poorer one named Malphas and the slightly more useful one Dion, and had been furnished with the relevant facilities. Physics was half a year away from completion; good progress considering the weight of the projected discovery. Now, this month, the first Colony Ship designed to be leaving the system had been built. It was named the IV (Imperial Vessel) Advance, for fairly obvious reasons. And so Martin turned his full attention to space again, waiting to see what this ship would find.

[RAM]

I was never really a fan of strip-mining asteroids, but it must be fun! Oh wait, I think that requires more resource technology...

Maybe you should use forced labour, enjoying the benefits of a subjugated populace can't be all bad...

[Korbac]

EDIT: Apologies for awful writing

The next month, Martin heard news which brought him to great excitement. The IV Advance had journeyed, successfully, through a warp point and emerged in what the captain of the ship decided to name the Texrek system (he said he'd like a typical sci - fi name.) The ship had colonised a new planet, named Orphemis, which was capable of holding three facilities. A Resupply Depot, Space Yard and Intel Centre had been planned by Tim Tip with discussions after the Emperor.

"I do wish they'd have given us a chance to pick which planet we wanted," said Tim, with a sort of sullen voice.

"They have to get what they can, Tim. Besides, they were only following orders," Martin replied in their defence.

"Yes, my Emperor..." Tim Tip left wondering if there would ever be any mineral rich planets the Empire could use.

Spoiler (click to show/hide)

No sooner was Tim out the door than Yagd Loa popped in. He was dressed in a scarlet fur cloak with a scarlet fur hood. His robes were trimmed with ermine and he looked like a king.

Martin initially found this amusing, but after several years wondered why his intelligence minister would do such a thing.

"My Emperor..." Yagd spoke with a stentorian, hissing voice, possibly the only combination impossible to achieve. "I have heard that you will be building an... 'Intelligence Center' soon?" His eyes flashed greedily.

"Yes, Yagd. That is true." Martin did like Yagd, in the same way you may like an extremely badly behaved dog who bites any visitors and pees in your favourite slippers.

"Exccccellentttttt..." Yagd stared over Martin's shoulder intently, giving a cough. Martin instinctively turned around, but there was nothing there. There was nothing there either when Martin returned to face Yagd. He had gone.

"What a showman," Martin thought to himself.

[RAM]

These domes are ugly, and the cycled air tastes of old socks, we need to find somewhere with a breathable atmosphere!


((*sighs* I am not really coming up with much input for this.))

[Korbac]

Dw RAM, I'm still at the part where there's not much to do. Thanks for reading along anyway I'll play a bit more tommorow, hopefully getting somewhere into the realm of being able to give you choices. And apologies for the crappy writing once more XD

[Korbac]

Sorry dudes, this will be on hold for the weekend as my savegames don't transfer across Steam. I have, however, made some progress, and am ready to write up another bit when I get back (to check on the empire's status). In the meantime, what should be researched after physics?

[RAM]

Engines, colonisation, shields, research, and psychic technology come to mind.

[Happerry]

I did mention Solar Panels... other then that its always nice to have some medical technology around. I don't know about you guys but I always have horrible luck with plagues. And if we aren't finding much mineral resources we should upgrade our mineral extraction research.

[Korbac]

Personally, RAM, I don't see much point in engines, but I'd be willing to look into them if you informed me of their benefits.

Colonisation...A bit early yet, don't you think?

Shields is a solid option, as are research and psychic tech. Although I think researching research (ha ha) too soon may not be as efficient as it could be.

Solar Panels - It's a good idea in theory, but the last time I tried them they didn't really do that much. However, I'll try them again if you want. 

Medical Technology - Yep, that's a good one as random event plagues are very annoying. Mineral Mining Upgrade is also a good choice, although personally I prefer the economics cultural achievement because it cuts maintenance of EVERYTHING which is mondo cool. 

[RAM]

Engine upgrades are a bit finicky, you need to hit specific thresholds. Frigates, for example, gain one speed for every 40 points of movement and have a maximum of 5 engines. A level 1 Ion engine produces 100 movement and gains 5 more for each level. So a frigate with 5 level 1 engines will have 500 movement and a speed of 12, level 2 engines would give it 525 movement and 13 speed, level 3 would be 550 movement but still only 13 movement.so you can get faster engines but fail to get faster ships...

Upgrading a type of engine has the following effects:
 More structure
 Lower cost
 More movement
 More supply
Which means stronger, cheaper, faster ships that can go farther.

Upgrading to better engine types results in:
 More structure
 Higher cost
 More movement
 More supply
So you will be spending much more cash to have low-level high-tech engines than you would on high-level low-tech engines, but in the long run you will need to best engines to get the best speeds. You may also want to fully upgrade your starting engines to have access to the cheapest possible engines when building cheap vessels.

Long story short, you will want to upgrade your engines at some point to get faster ships. You will want faster ships so that they can travel faster outside of combat, and so they can better control their range inside of combat.

Colonisation is very important for increasing your production, in the long run it should multiply the amount of facility space you have and let you get to the special planets faster. Too early? well, it probably is, but it takes some setting up and has long-term benefits, so you will want it as soon as you can afford it.

Solar technology grants you solar panels, which produce supply at an admittedly slow rate but allow you to expand your supply beyond your colonies and ease the burden on your newest worlds. Bear in mind that the supply production is multiplied based upon the number of stars in a system and, in S.E.V you can transfer supplies, so you can build a dedicated supply ship, stick it in a two-star system, and have a scout vessel refuel from it. It also provides solar sails, which add directly to your speed and don't count against your engine limit, so they are handy for increasing ship speed without increasing engine technology.

[Happerry]

My policy on research research is that it never goes underneath 10%, ever, and preferable hovers at about 20%. As for Mineral Mining, it scales better when you are first colonizing new planets. The faster you get it, the more advantage it gives you, where as the economics cultural achievement is less useful in the start of the game because you have less stuff. And you need some higher level solar panels before they are any good. At least research till you get the solar sail if you research it at all, but I prefer to try to hit the second solar sail level before stopping. You should always try to have at least one Panel on any energy weapon warship that you can spare the space on, because it ensures you never start a battle with zero ammo, even if you are running at full speed away, pretty much. It saves you a big hassle in the long run.

[Korbac]

Both of you, very good points, esp. on engines and mineral production. Think I'll grab rudimentary wargear (APB II and Shield II) and then detour to those areas.